I Dream of Numbers
by Cap10
Summary: Not every child wants to be a hero, but some are forced to become one at a young age. At the age of five, Alfeegi discovers that innocence can get you killed and that the truth can be difficult to find. The first story in the Time of Adjustment Series.
1. Chapter 1: Meetings

_I once knew a man who thought in numbers, and in their symmetry found peace._

_I once knew a man who was born to royalty, and gave it up to reach for the stars_

_I once knew a man who went to war, and learned the value of humanity_

_I once knew a man who dedicated his life to teaching, and has slowly lost his memory._

_I once knew a man who found a deep duality of nature within himself, and was lost to it._

_I once knew a man who saw the world, and now tries his best to make a difference. _

_I once knew a man who spent a lifetime seeking, and discovered nothing was missing. _

_I once knew a man who lived in constant pain, and learned to live above it._

_The goal of this series is to create a story dealing with the process of discover each character must take as they become a Dragon Officer, and every story is dedicated to man, who in one way or another touched my life and left a permanent impression. This first story is dedicated to the man who thought in numbers._

_Disclaimer- I do not own Dragon Knights, though Meilalugol is a figment of my imagination._

Meilalugol, White Dragon Officer in the Kingdom of Dragoon, daintily accepted the hand of the Regional Governor of Fui as she demounted the Darna. Glancing over the ceremonial soldiers standing at attention, she was once again reminded of just how much she loathed the fanfare that came with the title of Dragon Officer. Meilalugol gave a quick nod of approval, because that was required for a person of her standing, before she quickly strolled across the courtyard, heels clicking crisply across the stone pavement and long skirts fluttering around in the light breeze.

Behind her the sound of clinking armor, shifting dragons, and scraping of chests informed Meilalugol that the five Dragon Guards assigned to her for this trip where unpacking the Darna. She had always though it odd that the King always sent so many guards with her, especially seeing the king only insisted that the male Dragon Officer bring one or two guards on trips to outlining provinces. After all, she was nearly as good at sword play as Greeare, the Red Dragon Officer, and it an emergency it would not matter that her fighting style was a tad bit unorthodox. Maybe it was because she always insisted on traveling to do the audits on her own, instead of sending assistance like many of the White Dragon Officers in the past did. Or perhaps it was because her personality made her exceptionally good at creating diplomatic incidents.

As bad as the disadvantages of having to be trailed by a half dozen guards on these trips, they were all balanced by the fact King Carsis had insisted that she travel by Darnas. Riding a Darna meant it was possible to travel five or six times more distance each day than could be covered by simply walking. This speed of travel was a great relief because despite her insistence that she had to travel to do her own audits, Meilalugol loathed traveling. After all, it did not matter how thick the padding of her skirts were, her rump always ached after a long days ride leaving her desperately longing of a hot bath and her own bed. The only problem was Meilalugol didn't trust any of her staff to properly conduct on of these audits. Unfortunately, people insisted that things must be fancy for the arrival of the Dragon Officers. Thus they would throw balls, banquets, and concerts in Meilalugols honor, and the one thing the Meilalugol hated more than traveling was being forced to attend a party. But before any of the social events could begin, the governor always insisted that she take a full guided tour of his grounds.

For a reason that Meilalugol could not understand, the high families of each province tended to always give her a tour of the grounds. They had been interesting the first two or three times, and she had learned a lot from them. The problem now was she had visited each province once every decade or so for the last two hundred and three years. This meant she now had the tour memorized and could probably explain the background history for every painting in every governors mansion in Dragoon. And if the repetitiveness wasn't bad enough, the squire giving the tour today had a some what nasally voice that was driving her completely nuts.

"I apologize for my interruption, sir, but would it be possible to be shown to my quarters? It is not that I do not find the tour _fascinating_, but I have been traveling for several days to get here and I would really like the opportunity to fresh-in-up. Because of time constants I will have to begin the audit tonight, but I would like to be clean before a start sorting through the paperwork." Meilalugol brushed of some dust from her shirt sleeve to try to emphases her point.

"I am very sorry, Dragon Officer." The tour guide opened his mouth to speak but it was the governor who spoke first. "There is no need for you to apologize. It is I who has been inconsiderate. I should taken into account your long journey and realized the fact that you would be very tired after traveling so far. I will show you to the guest rooms immediately and order a bath run. I promise you will not be disturbed until dinner is served and after the meal I will make all of the arrangements to have all the information you need provided to you."

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Meilalugol sank into an armchair placed in front of a desk. The governor had insisted on dancing after dinner and that had left her feet aching and her head spinning from the heat of the ballroom. But there was not time to dwell of the _pleasantries_ of visiting a royal official. Meilalugol had been given the large stacks of record and a temporary office in the great library in the home of the Governors brother-in-law. Now she had four days to pour over the available data to determine exactly where the fatal flaw in the regions budget was. It wasn't a task that she was really looking forward to, but being able to function a practically no sleep was a benefit of being a Dragon Officer. Acute hearing was another trait, one that she now using as she hear feet quietly making their way down the hallway leading to the library.

Meilalugol had been certain that the entire household had retired for the evening. She froze; ready to duck below the table or under the desk at the first sign of danger. After all the tax collector is never very popular, and she had quickly learned never to bring her favorite dresses on these fact finding missions because they had a habit of getting arrow holes in them. Thoughts quickly drummed through her mind. Maybe she should have insisted that one of the Dragon Fighters stay up with her instead of sending them all to rest. Perhaps she should have continued to wear her sword instead of leaving it by the door when she went to work. Slowly the door slid noiselessly open…exposing a small child instead of an assassin. Meilalugol almost fainted in relief.

"Hello, dear. Are you lost?" The child shook his head. "Isn't it a little bit late to be wondering around the house?"

The child shrugged. "I couldn't sleep."

"Well, dear, it looks like I will not be getting any sleep tonight would you like to keep me company." The child responded to Meilalugol's questioning by wandering slowly in the room and over to the big stuffed leather arm chair in the corner by the hearth. "How old are you, dear?"

"I am five right now, but I will be six in five months and 27 days. Oh, and my name isn't Dear. It is Alfeegi." Meilalugol was slightly surprised at the child response as she would have guessed his age to closer to three because of the child small size, but she reminded herself not all children grew as quickly as other. A fact that was especially true among children belonging to the dragon clan.

"Alfeegi, that is a very nice name, let me guess you were named after the Dragon Knight of Water from the 11th dynasty?" The child nodded. "It is a noble name and I am sure that you will live up to it. My name is Meilalugol, and I was named after my grandmother."

"That is nice." The child said off handedly, clearly focusing the bulk of his energy and concentration on lifting the heavy volume off of the table next to the chair on to his lap.

"Would you like me to read you a story?" Meilalugol had to smile at the slightly comedic sight of such a young child trying to move a book that appeared to be almost as big as he was.

"You are busy and Nana taught me to read a long time ago." The child put such an emphasis on the word 'long' that Meilalugol had to stop herself from giggling. With that the conversation lapsed into companionable silence which was only interrupted by the rustle of turning pages and the scratching of Meilalugol's pen as she took notes. But as with all children, silence only proves to increase their curiosity, and Alfeegi was no exception.

"What are you doing?" Meilalugol almost spilled her ink. Looking down at her elbow she discovered that the child some how slipped off the chair and stuck up behind her without her noticing. Now Alfeegi was standing on his tiptoes attempting to see over the desk and read her notes.

"I am afraid that you would probably find my work to be quite boring, Alfeegi. Even most adults do." Meilalugol was not quite sure how to explain accounting and paperwork to a child of that age.

"You do the same thing that my daddy does."

"Yes, I guess I do in a way do the same thing your father does. I am a national accounting official which is very similar to your father does."

"Then I know that your job is not boring, because I like numbers." Alfeegi burst into a grin the pushed on of the stools over to the desk Meilalugol was working on so he could climb on top of it. True to the child's word Alfeegi watched fascinated as Meilalugol scrolling handwriting attempted to make sense of the information on the page. After finishing the section on pension payments and finding nothing amiss, Meilalugol stated to leaf through the taxation record for the region. She only got to the second page of accounts when once again the silence was interrupted.

"Those numbers pages are wrong." Alfeegi stated proudly.

"What?" Meilalugol looked up slightly surprised at the child as she did not see anything amiss with the accounts or her own calculations.

"They do not match up."

"They fail to match up with what?" Meilalugol scanned the page again attempting to understand what the child saw that she was clearly missing.

"With the number pages that the merchants give us, silly. Daddy says that I shouldn't be looking at his number pages because they are not my business and that child my age should not be playing with numbers." Of course Meilalugol thought, as the child rabble on. The governor must have been skimming off a portion of the taxes. Meilalugol looked over the piles of accounting summaries and it became clear that taxation receipts were not among them. Perhaps she could get them in the morning. "I think number pages are a lot more interesting then the stick swords and model dragons that Daddy wants me to play with. That is why I made my own number pages. They are better than Daddy's because the numbers match up."

The last segment of the child's monologue stuck out to Meilalugol, after all young Alfeegi had just stated he may have collected the evidence she needed. "I would love to see your number pages. Would you mind showing me?"

"Really!" The child's eyes shown with excitement, clearly very few people were interested in viewing Alfeegi's treasure.

The small child scuttled away, but the quick patter of an excited child's feet could soon be heard returning down the hall. Coming through the door Meilalugol could now see that Alfeegi was clutching a child's diary to his chest. He proudly presented the book to the White Officer and scrambled back on the desk to better observer her page through his work.

"Alfeegi, your number pages are amazing." And to Meilalugol that statement was true, for there written in neat columns in the child's diary was the proof of the corruption she had long suspected. Corruption, that had gone on hidden for centuries but was now written out clearly the determination yet innocence script of a five year old.

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_Question? Comments? Suggestions? If you have any ideas on how I can inprove this story please hit the button and comment. Remember feedback makes the chapters post faster._


	2. Chapter 2: Caught

_**Disclaimer**__-I wish I owned Dragon Knights, but if I did I wouldn't be writing fanfiction. I do own any mistakes that my wonderful beta Tsuki and I missed._

_**Explanation**__- I must apologies for taking so long to post this chapter. While it has been mostly completed for over a year now, as a person who has had the misfortune of experience a form of abuse, the last scene was very difficult to write. I will warn you that child abuse does occur in this chapter. I did not go into graphic detail for many reasons, one being the fact I did not feel it was appropriate, but that does not mean it may be emotionally uncomfortable for some readers._

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The soft light of dawn had begun to filter through the tall picture windows overlooking the manicured lawns of Alfeegi's father's estate. But the two people in the library were too wrapped up in the excitement of discover to really care. Alfeegi had be delighted by the fact Meilalugol was interested in his hobby and had spent the entire night walking her through his notes, sometimes running back to his room to retrieve other pieces of the puzzle, including a series of receipts he had saved from the scrap pile. Meilalugol was extremely pleased by sudden breakthrough.

Though Alfeegi had endless enthusiasm, it was only a matter of time until the child's boundless energy ran out. By the time one of Alfeegi's older sisters came to fetch Meilalugol for breakfast; Alfeegi was curled up on Meilalugol's lap fast asleep.

"There you are my little scholar." Terranna smiled softly as she noticed her little brother fast asleep. "It can be quite a task to keep track of him sometimes. I hope that he hasn't disturbed you, he tends to never leave things alone when he is curious."

"Quite the contrary he has been a great help and good company." Meilalugol looked fondly down at the child as she closed the book she had been studying.

"I am glad. Father has always hoped that Alfeegi would become a great warrior and save the kingdom like his grandfather did, but Alfeegi's heart has always been in books." Terranna bent to stroke a few loose strains of aqua hair from her brother's face. "Perhaps when he is older, father will realize that we all leave a mark on this world in a different way."

"He is very talented for someone of such a young age. Who is his tutor?" Meilalugol said softly.

"He doesn't have one."

"What?"

"Uncle forbad it. He insists that children should be taught in the home until the age of ten and father now has neither the courage nor energy to try to change his mind. And so I have been his teacher. I taught him how to read two years ago, and taught him basic sums. The rest he taught himself by watching father and reading in the library…" Terranna looked wistfully around the floor to ceiling bookshelves that surrounded them, then let her eyes focus on the older woman in front of her. "Well enough of that it is time for breakfast and if we do not leave soon it will be cold. Also I better inform Alfeegi's nursemaid where he is. Albizia is probably panicking that she is unable to find her young charge."

Meilalugol nodded at that. She gently slipped the sleeping child off of her lap and laid him gently on the large arm chair next to the fire. After draping her night cloak over Alfeegi she followed Terranna to the dining hall, leaving the child in peaceful slumber.

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At breakfast Meilalugol announced that she had collected the information she needed and would depart the following day. Then she spent the rest of the day in library making notes. By evening she had collected enough information about the fraud to remove the governor and reorganize the province. The only thing left to do was packing her diplomatic saddle bags.

One of the first things she packed was the collections of 'treasures' that Alfeegi had brought to her. She felt guilty about taking the child's journal, but this information would only put Alfeegi in danger. She suspected that the governor felt there was some connection with her rapid departure and the night she had spent with the boy. She hoped that she could protect the inquisitive young child from his uncle by taking the evidence with her to Draqueen.

From there she rhythmically packed up her notes and copies, just like she did for any other audit. As she quietly rolled the long pieced of parchment to prepare it to be tucked in her saddle bags, Meilalugol accidentally tread on her skirt causing her to fall into one of the nearby bookshelves. One of the slabs of wood came loose causing a pile of manuscripts old and dusty books to be dropped on the floor around her. Over all none of the books were of much value. They were simply old histories of the estate and the surrounding country side. Only one of these books caught her eye. It was a thin, worn, leather volume which bore the Crest of Fui, but was otherwise unremarkable. But unlike the other books it lacked the same veneer of dust and looked like it had been recently read. So Meilalugol opened the volume to the first page.

_I Galanthus, being given to this household by Calanthe's parents to care for the needs of his new wife, now begin a record. It is my hopes that this journal will portray an accurate history of the joys and celebrations that these newlyweds will experience during my lifetime. _

Meilalugol's interest had been peaked. Perhaps this small record would give her understanding of why this once great house was crumbling. Gently she allowed her nimble fingers to dance across the pages of the family history, as her eyes scanned for useful information.

_We have lost Nymphaea this day. The angel of this household, and the dear wife of Calanthe's is lost, and with her the light of this home._

On the following page the account continued.

_Our family is in morning, but Lecouspermum insists that we should rejoice at the fact that our mistresses dying act was to give birth to a son. But even though his words seem kind, I can't help but hate him. The Governor drove his sister to this. The doctors warned Nymphyaea that if she tried again to bare a child the pregnancy would kill her. The said that her body was far too delicate. That it was a miracle that she survived Terranna's birth. But her twin insisted that their family needed a male heir to continue the bloodline. As Lecouspermum and his wife Scadoxus but are barren, Lecouspermum insisted that the responsibility was left up to Nymphyaea._

_Now our household it trapped in the balance. I am fairly certain that if the boy dies we will lose not only the child, but his father as well. Unfortunately, this home seems destined for tragedy, the infant is small and frail taking after his mothers constitution. Our only hope is if he inherited the stubbornness from Calanthe's side of the family. Calanthe named his son Alfeegi after a hero of old in hope that he will gain strength from his name sake._

Meilalugol flipped to one of the more recent entries. The scrawling writing of the old housekeeper indicated that this entry was barely a year old.

_Recently Lord Lecuospermum, the Regional Governor and Calanthes own brother and law, appointed Calanthes as his new Minister of Finances. This seemed like a blessing at first because it woke Calanthes from his morning, but soon Calanthes' whole character change. In a way I am frightened by these new changes in Calanthes. He acts as though everything is fine, but his eyes are haunted. He is like a tortured animal, unable to understand anything but survival. _

_Terranna, angel that she is, has tried to pull her father back to the remainder of the family. She reminds him constantly that even though Nymphaea has left us, he has two children who still love and adore him. Those pleas seemed to fall of deaf ears for Calanthes has only retreated farther from her comforting arm. Still Terranna has moved forward and has practically run the household since her mother death even though she is still the tender age of 54._

_Alfeegi, bless his little soul, has also reached out, but it is clear his father cannot see anything past the traits of his dead mother. I fear the poor child has giving into the neglect. Trapped inside the estate by Lecuospermum's orders, Alfeegi is a child without youthful companionship nor imagination. The poor child has been growing more quiet and withdrawn._

_As I observe the actions of Calantes towards his two children more then ever the signs are clear; this family is falling apart and Lecuospermum is the cause… _

A child's terrified shriek broke the Meilalugol train of thought and woke a deep maternal instinct to protect and comfort the sufferer. She rose from the desk and walked to the doorway of the library only to hear the high pitch screams of a child in pain, recognition played a disconcerting tune on her heart strings. Meilalugol felt blindly until her quaking fingers brushed against cool comfort of her sword brush. Weapon in hand she ran into the darken mansion chased by the demons that uncertainty and fear create. Alfeegi's pleadings became clearer but they were now accompanied by the deep rumblings of an angry man voice.

It quickly became apparent that heals where slowing her. With the grace of a fish on land she shed the shoes and continued in the direction of the noise. Bounding down the hall in her stockings, she nearly slid past the half open door. The room beyond was dark but in the shadows she could make out an office. There was a desk, chairs, and in the middle, silhouetted by a lone candle a man.

"I do not understand." Alfeegi's voice quivered with fear and pain.

"You betrayed your kin by feeding information to the King's wretch. Don't you understand YOU DESTROYED EVERYTHING!" The heavy base was recognizable as that belonging to the Regional Governor. Through the darkness it was clear he was picking up the child by his hair.

"Papa, Nana help…" The voice was breathy with desperation.

"You don't deserve to cry for help traitor. Mayhap I should cut out your tongue. Or maybe I should just cut you throat. But a quick death is more then you deserve." A small whimper was all that Alfeegi replied to his Uncles threat, followed by a cry of pain as the governor's hand latched on to an arm which was clearly already broken. With a sharp movement the child was thrown to the side, a sickening thud reverberating through the room as Alfeegi hit the wall and crumpled.

"Halt." Meilalugol croaked through vocal cords that were unwilling to move.

"You have no authority here, Woman." The venom in the governor's voice was palpable as he advanced once again on his prey.

"I SAID HALT!" Governor took another step forward, a dagger hissing as he pulled it from its sheath and at that sound Meilalugol snapped. In a matter of seconds she had slammed her knee into the man's crotch while the hilt of her blade connected with his face. The bone gave a satisfying crunch as nose and jaw caved to the force of the blow.

"I warned you…" Meilalugol muttered softly gasping a little as she caught her breath. Gingerly she reached out to Alfeegi and almost collapsed in relief when he whimpered in pain at her touch. He was alive; she had made it in time.

"Alfeegi, dear, it is okay. I am here to protect you. Shhh, don't cry, there is no more reason to fear." Meilalugol sat rocking and soothing the frighten child that was now pressed gently to her chest, ignoring the carnage that surrounded her and the blood that was spreading across the front of her gown. "Everything will be okay little one. I will not let him hurt you anymore."

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_Well with two chapters currently at the beta, I should have a quicker turn around this time. If there are any changes/improvements/comments you wish pass onto me please hit the button below and review. I promise there are some goodies waiting for those who do, including a sneak peek for the next chapter._

_**Writing Factoid**__- Coming up with Dragon Knight type names was a unique challenge. Mineko Ohkami tends to use very long complex names for members of the Dragon Clan. The solution that I created for long complex names for most of my filler characters was to grab a book about plants and modify some Latin based scientific names. For example Alfeegi's mother's name, Nymphyaea, is based off of the genus name for the water lily._


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